Shank-stiffener for boots or shoes



(N0 Model.)

J. M. WATSON.

SHANK STIFFENER FOR BOOTS 0R SHOES.

Patented Nov. 8, 1887.

NITED STATES PATENT Prion.

JEREMIAH MEARS WATSON, OF SHARON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SHANK-STIFFENER FOR BOOTS OR SHOES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Iletters Patent No. 372,728, dated November 8, 1 887.

Serial No. 18!,281. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JEREMIAH llIEARS WAT- SON, of Sharon, in the county of Norfolk, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of Shoe-Shank Stiffeners; and I do hereby declare the same to be described in the following specification, and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which Figure 1 is a transverse section, and Fig. 2 a bottom view, of ashoe-shank stiffener of my improved kind. Fig. 3 is atransverse section of its two parts, as sewed together and arranged for being so connected.

My invention enables me to utilize much of what is generally condemned as waste pieces ofsole-leather,such as, though long enough,are not of sufficient width for being converted into an entire shanl -that is, one without a seam extending from end to end of it.

In carrying out my invention, the nature of which is defined inthe claims hereinafter presented, I take two pieces, Aand B, of leather, each of which is of a suitable width and length, and has one longitudinal edge of it straight; and I scarf or bevel the piece at such edge in manner as shown at a in Fig. 3, so that the plane of the beveled edge shall be at an acute angle with the outer surface of the piece when the two pieces are arranged together, face to face, in manner as shown in Fig. 3. Having thus beveled the two pieces and arranged them fiatwise against one another, as shown in said Fig. 3, I connect them by stitching or sewing 12, going through both transversely, somewhat loosely, and at the vertex of the angle which their beveled edges make with each other. Having done this, I turn both strips outwardly from each other until their beveled edges meet in close contact, as shown in Fig. 1, in which case the two strips or pieces Aand B will stand at an obtuse angle to each other, transversely of them.

If desirable, the pieces can be glued or otherwise connected together at their edges in contact; but, generally speaking, the stitching will sufrice, it serving by its arrangement not only to secure them to each other,but to operate like a hinge to admit of theirbeingturned or moved outwardly into an inclination with each other, as represented in Fig. 1.

The shoe-shank stiffener so made may be re-enforced, when desirable, by one or more pieces of material properly applied to it. By constructing it of two pieces beveled on their inner edges and laid face to face, so that their beveled edges shall stand at a re-entering angle, and connecting said pieces by stitches going through both transversely at the vertex of the angle, such pieces can afterward be readily turned into positions, as shown in Fig. 1, in which the beveled edges are represented as in close contact throughout both of them.

By making the stiffener in two piecesinstead of one, there are benefits to be obtained. The requisite arch is given in a simple way, as the pieces are united without crimping or shaping the leather. Also, by this greater elasticity is imparted to the stiffener, so that while the stiffener stiffens the shoe at the same time it has an elastic,yielding, relieving rigidity in the shoe-shank.

I claiin-- 1. As an improved manufacture, a shoeshank stiffener, substantially as described, composed of two separate pieces of leather or material beveled on their longitudinal connected edges and stitched to each other, as set forth.

2. As an improved mannfactu re, a shoeshank stilfener composed of two separate pieces of leather or material inclined to each other transversely, and longitudinally connected, as set forth.

JEREMIAH MEARS IVATSON.

Vitnesses:

It. H. EDDY, R. B. Tonnnv. 

